Talking with Tailoring's New Guard: Derek Mattison

Derek Mattison is a self-proclaimed "tailoring whore" but with the launch of his eponymous brand Mattison, the designer is pimping out his personal obsession by offering guys a line of expertly crafted, razor sharp suits. The hallmark of the brand’s slim silhouette is a skinny lapel that, when rendered in traditional menswear fabrications, looks like the sartorial love child of a 50s IBM employee and a cooler-than-you Parisian art director — forward-thinking and classic at the same time. We caught up with the designer on the eve of his first store opening in L.A. (coming later this month) to find out more about his armhole fixation, why the most expensive suits out there aren’t always the best, and what every guy should keep in mind when shopping for some new tailored goods.

GQ: When did you first become obsessed with tailoring?

Derek Mattison: It’s hard to say but I think it goes back to around 2004 or 2005 when I bought my first Tom Ford suit. At the time I was mostly wearing designer labels like Dior, Jil Sander and Band of Outsiders but when I put on a Tom Ford it felt like making sweet, sweet love. Unfortunately I looked like I should be selling derivatives or trading currencies, and I wanted to gouge my eyes out, so I attempted to make it look like an old Heidi Slimane jacket by shortening the length, taking in the sleeve width, and thinning out the lapel. All in I think it was about a $7,000 lesson in balance, proportion and limits.

GQ: How did that love of tailoring grow into you wanting to start your own brand?

Mattison: I think a lot of the strong tailored goods brands don’t make very wearable everyday clothing. When I look at brands like Kiton, Brioni, and even Tom Ford I think wow, this stuff feels great and is made really well, but you look fucking ridiculous wearing a Kiton three-piece to lunch on a Tuesday if you’re not closing a mega merger. On the flip side, I feel like a lot of designer brands don’t construct their garments as well as they should for the prices they charge. I get nauseous when I see a brand charging over $2k for a jacket and they use fusing. What I’m trying to do is merge my love of quality tailoring with a minimalist designer sensibility, a wearable color palette, and the real world. And yes, that real world includes denim.

GQ: What has been the most challenging aspect of getting Mattison off the ground? The most rewarding?

Mattison: Deciding to name your brand your own name comes with pressure and responsibility to yourself. I liked the challenge of not being able to hide behind a fictitious brand name so that I’d have to personally endorse every product and stand behind it 100%. To me that meant doing things my way and making things without compromise. Every garment we make I will look at and ask two questions "would I buy this" and "is this made really well"? If the answer is no to either question then it’ll never be on the shelf — It’s as simple as that. Unfortunately not everyone has my same take on quality and getting through this first production has been a humbling experience. However, at the end of the day I honestly feel like we’re putting out some really beautiful product and I’m proud that my name is on the label.

GQ: What was the process like developing the signature silhouette for Mattison?

Mattison: Before I got into the details I spent a lot of time on the fit. In the past when I was buying off the rack one of the first things I would do is lift the armhole. It creates a slimmer silhouette in the body and it feels more elegant when you put the jacket on. Next came the sleeve and body length and I feel like I ended up on the longer side of short. My suit jackets are short, not Thom Browne short, but short enough for you to realize that it’s no longer the 90s. The slim, high-waisted trouser was just in response to the ill-fitting trousers that most brands paired with their suit jackets. Now I know that you can tailor pants but once you start changing the taper and fussing with pants too much in the seat it throws off the balance. And if you think you can trust your tailor to get it right, you’re wrong. I’m only willing to trust a tailor as far as I can throw him. Watch what happens if you start the taper too much above the knee. You’ll hate yourself. I wanted to have a pant fit that was tailored slim without being obnoxiously designer so that it only fits 90 lb androgynous hipster boys.

GQ: And the lapels?

Mattison: The really thin lapel width was an evolution. I started making lapels thinner and thinner and the smaller they became I felt the jackets became more wearable in a casual environment. Eventually I made some prototypes with lapels that were too thin (it’s definitely possible) and I ended up sticking with the smallest lapel before it became laughably small.

GQ: What do you feel separates Mattison from the other offerings in the menswear marketplace?

Mattison: It’s completely wearable everyday clothing. A lot of high-end lines have too many pieces that are only for the fashion forward or they’re a little too precious so they just sit in your closet. Everything in my line is made with the intention that it can be worn to work and directly to the bar - b/c that’s what I do. I never understood "go out clothes". So you wear crap to work and then you go home and change and put on your "good clothes"? That’s backward logic, homey.

GQ: What’s the one thing every guy should remember when shopping for a suit?

Mattison: I’d give these three pieces of advice:

1) Don’t think of it as a suit. Think of it as a tool that can be used to help you become a very successful scoundrel. You can deal heroin, but if you have on a well-tailored suit you look like management.
2) If you don’t have many jackets in the collection stick to simple greys, blacks, and navys without patterns or stripes. I know you may have your eye on that burgundy velvet blazer over at Louis Vuitton, but you’re only going to wear it to two holiday parties before it’s played out and noticeable as last year’s Louis.

3) Wear it for fuck’s sake. Wear it with a tie to your cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. Wear it with a t-shirt, denim and Jordans to the car wash. Wear it on the plane when you visit your family back in Minnesota. Over time the jacket will form more and more to your body making it truly yours.

GQ: What’s next for the Mattison brand?

Mattison: Currently we’ve got a lot in the works. Our flagship is opening this month in Los Angeles and we’re just putting the finishing touches on the next two lines, which I’m really excited about. A couple new denim fits and finishes, an additional silhouette to the blazer collection, knitwear, shoes, new outerwear. I’m just getting warmed up.

Read more about Mattison and the hippest movement in men’s style (hint: it ain’t t-shirts) here.

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